Moving West of Mumbai: Whether You Can Get Jeans in Nairobi

We've been here in the capital of Kenya since last Friday and the initial arrival in the center of the city was a little disappointing although blissfully chilly--the rainy season just ended and the temperature last week was hovering around 70-75 degrees. It's just amazing, even after you've convinced yourself that the body can function in 100-degree heat and absolute humidity and that you really look OK after being in an overheated tin can of a cab for an hour, you arrive in a different climate, and it feels like someone's enveloping you in a cool, gentle hug... not to get too carried away.

So, these pictures show the Nairobi downtown, in all its seventies glory. The city didn't exist until the late 19th century--it was built by the British as a hub of the Kenya-Uganda Railway--and after independence it underwent massive construction, mostly in the 1960s and 1970s. The buildings from the 90s and later, in the swankier part of the city, actually look nicer and the city as a whole is very green and pleasant (apart from the horrible car emissions). The statue is that of a Mau Mau, a fighter for independence from the 1950s.

Speaking of independence, about 5 percent of Nairobi's 2-3 million population is white (descendants of the original British settlers, some in the fifth generation and more, and many internationals--offices of the UN, UNESCO, and UNEP are all located here and generate their own expat communities) as opposed to Mumbai's paltry 30,000.

It's striking how much more modern this city looks than Mumbai--well-constructed buildings, high-end Western shopping malls, new cars--Kenya has much greater per capita wealth than India and some parts of town even look a bit like Jersey.

However, Misha's officemates here, who are all well-traveled and often been educated in the US, have regaled us with the typical associations Americans have with Kenya--one placid man who spent time in rural Kentucky was ready to kill the next person who mentioned safaris or The Lion King, and the manager of the office came to study at Amherst and the first question he got when he said he was Kenyan was "So where did you get those jeans?" Which is doubly funny, because there are so many fashionistas here in the capital in heels and bespoke suits. There is even a Pierre Cardin store. It actually resells clothing from the French chain store Monoprix, but those are details...

This is not to downplay the urban poverty and corruption and lack of electricity in most parts, but the place is doing far better than neighboring Uganda where, for instance, they barely eat meat, while here every other stall is the universal favorite nyama choma (barbecue)--pictures of this national treasure are coming later...